Nuance in language

English is spoken by about 500 Million people across the globe. For about 400 Million it is their first language and for the others their second or third.

But an Australian might have a hard time following a guy in Delhi trying to tell him when a train arrives or leaves a station.

Here then are some uniquely Indian-English nuskas -

The express will also be pressed into service in Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Lucknow sectors

The Deccan Queen left Mumbai Bang on Time at 5.10 pm (and sometimes promptly came to a halt outside the station is not mentioned in the coverage)

I would like to thank all of you all

He came today itself

A thought leading lady of India called Rama Bijapurkar in fact wrote an entire book titled -

We are like that only - in a nod to the oft used expression in Indian colloquial language. One of her interviews I read captures the most basic problem in Indian culture esp when it comes to customer service - Merely apologizing without fixing the problem. While the converse can work it seems India has a cultural problem with taking sound advice.

Why does this happen? How do languages meld to form a monstrosity? Is that really a bad thing? If the whole idea of a language is to ensure communication then is that not what is happening? Or does language mean more than that?

I assume then you know the answer to all the above, no?

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Brown Motion

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